


Ariana Dumbledore and the Philosopher's Stone

by orphan_account



Series: Ariana Dumbledore [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-29 12:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17203577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: An orphaned girl enrolls in a school of wizardry, where she learns the truth about herself, her family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.





	1. The Zoo

1972

A neighbourhood on a street called Privet Drive. An owl, sitting on the street sign flies off to reveal a mysterious appearing old man walking through a forest near the street. He stops at the start of the street and takes out a mechanical device and zaps all the light out of the lampposts. He puts away the device and a cat meows. The man, Albus Dumbledore, looks down at the cat, which is a tabby and is sitting on a brick ledge.

"I should have known that you would be here... Professor McGonagall."

The cat meows. The cat starts progressing into a human.

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore. Are the rumours true, Albus?"

"I'm afraid so, Professor. The good, and the bad."

"And the girl?"

"Hagrid is bringing her."

"Do you think it wise to trust Hagrid with something as important as your great-great-granddaughter?"

"Ah, Professor, I would trust Hagrid with my life."

There is a motor sound, and the two professors look up to see a flying motorcycle coming down from the air. It skids on the street and halts. A large man, Rubeus Hagrid, takes off his goggles.

"Professor Dumbledore, Sir. Professor McGonagall."

"No problems, I trust, Hagrid?"

"No, sir. Little tyke fell asleep just as we were flying over Bristol. Heh. Try not to wake her. There you go."

Hagrid hands a baby in a blanket over to Dumbledore.

"Albus, do you really think its safe, leaving her with these people? I've been watching them all day. They're the worst sort of Muggles imaginable. They really are-"

"The only family she has."

"She has you."

"She isn't safe with me Professor, even you know that."

They stop outside a house.

"This girl will be famous. There won't be a child in our world who doesn't know her name.

"Exactly. She's better off growing up away from all that. Until she is ready."

Hagrid coughs and sniffles, he is crying. He clears his throat.

"There, there, Hagrid. It's not really good-bye, after all."

Hagrid nods. Dumbledore takes a letter and places it on the baby, who is now at the foot of the door. The baby has a visible phoenix shaped scar on her forehead.

"Good luck... my dear, Ariana."

1982

There is a click, and knocking. Outside, a tall woman, Petunia Dursley, raps the door.

"Up. Get up. Now!" She smacks door of closet which is the girls bedroom.

A large, tubby boy, Dudley Dursley, suddenly comes running down the stairs above the closet. He stops half-way down and goes back, jumping on the staircase.

"Wake up, cousin! We're going to the zoo!"

Dudley laughs, comes down the stairs and runs for the kitchen. The girl, Ariana Dumbledore, tries to come out of the closet, but is pushed back in by Dudley.

Petunia is in the kitchen, where Dudley has gone.

"Oh, here he comes, the birthday boy!"

A larger man, Vernon Dursley, is sitting at the kitchen table.

"Happy birthday, son."

Petunia and Dudley giggle together. Ariana comes into the kitchen, dressed in rags.

"Why don't you just cook the breakfast, and try not to burn anything."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia."

She sets to work.

"I want everything to be perfect for my Dudley's special day."

"Hurry up! Bring my coffee, girl!"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon."

Petunia leads Dudley over to the family room, where there are a vast amount of presents. Dudley stares.

"How many are there?"

"Thirty-six. Counted 'em myself."

"Thirty-six?! But last year last year I got thirty-seven!!"

"Yes, well, some of them are quite a bit bigger than last year!"

"I don't care how big they are!"

"Oh, now, now, now. This is what we're going to do, is that when we go out we're going to buy you two new presents! How's that, Pumpkin?"

\---

The happy family is heading to the car. Ariana goes to get in but is stopped by Vernon.

"I'm warning you now, girl. Any funny business, any at all, and you won't have any meals for a week. Get in."

\---

The family is looking at a large Bengal Tiger.

"Make it move."

Vernon raps the glass of the cage.

"Move!"

Dudley raps the glass much harder, and Vernon winces.

"MOVE!"

"He's asleep! Leave him alone!"

"He's boring."

Dudley and his parents retreat to another enclosure. Ariana is left with the tiger.

"Sorry about him. He doesn't understand what it's like, lying there day after day, watching people press their ugly faces in on you."

The tiger looks up and blinks.

"Can you hear me?"

The tiger nods.

"Wow. I'm sorry, it's just…I've never talked to a snake before. Do you, I mean, do you talk to people often?"

The tiger shakes its head.

"You're from India, aren't you? Was it nice there? Do you miss your family?"

The tiger turns its head in the direction of a sign which says, Bred in Captivity.

"I see. I'm sorry. That's me as well. I never knew my parents either."

The now awake tiger has attracted Dudley's attention. He rips over to the cage, knocking Ariana to the floor.

"Mummy, dad, come here! You won't believe what this tiger is doing!!"

Dudley puts his hands on the glass wall. Ariana, from the ground, glares at him. Suddenly, the glass disappears. Dudley falls forward.

"Whoa! Ahh! Ahh!!"

Dudley falls into the tiger enclosure, sputtering in a pool of water. The tiger gets out of the exhibit, stopping in front of Ariana.

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

The tiger starts off.

"TIGER!"

There is a lot of screaming as the tiger heads for freedom. Dudley gets up to get out, but the glass is now back over the enclosure. He is stuck. He pounds the glass.

"Mum, mummy!"

Petunia sees him.

"AHH!"

"Mum, help! Help me!"

"My darling boy! How did you get in there?!"

Ariana grins and giggles.

Vernon glares down at her and Ariana's grin disappears. Petunia continues screaming.

Petunia and a bundled up Dudley enter the house.

"It's all right. It's all right."

Ariana and Vernon enter. Vernon slams the door and shoves Ariana against a wall, taking her hair.

"What happened?"

"I swear I don't know! One minute the glass was there and then it was gone! It was like magic!"

Vernon scoffs and shoves Ariana into the closet.

"There's no such thing as magic!"


	2. The Letters

An owl flies by the house and drops a letter, which zooms in the letterbox. It lands away from the house and hoots.

Ariana goes to collect the mail. She sorts through the letters and sees a letter addressed to her. She goes into the kitchen, hands Vernon the rest of the mail, and walks around the other side of the table to see her letter.

Dudley sees Ariana's letter. He runs and grabs it.

"Dad, look! Ariana's got a letter!"

"Hey, give it back, that's mine!"

"Yours? Who'd be writing to you?"

The family gathers to look at the address. There is a broken seal on the letter. The family looks up and Ariana gulps.

\---

Another owl flies by with a letter and drops it off. Inside, Vernon grabs a handful of letters and rips them up.

In the closet, Ariana hears a whirring noise. She looks out at Vernon drilling wood over the letterbox opening.

"No more mail through this letterbox."

\---

Outside, Vernon and Petunia appear. Vernon is about to head off to work. Petunia kisses his cheek.

"Have a lovely day at the office, dear."

She stops, looks and sees a bunch of owls.

"Shoo! Go on!"

\---

Vernon is tossing letters into the fireplace. Ariana comes around the corner. Vernon grins evilly and tosses more in.

\---

The family is sitting around, Ariana is serving biscuits.

"Fine day Sunday. In my opinion, best day of the week. Why is that, Dudley?"

Dudley shrugs.

Ariana hands a biscuit to Vernon.

"Because there's no post on Sundays?"

"Ah, right you are, Ariana. No post on Sunday. Hah! No blasted letters today. No, sir."

Ariana sees a shadow outside the window. Outside, millions of owls are perched.

"No sir, not one blasted, miserable-"

A letter shoots out of the fireplace and zips across Vernons face. There is a rumbling and then zillions of letters come shooting out of the fireplace.

"AHH! Make it stop! Please make it stop!"

Dudley jumps on Petunia's lap.

Ariana jumps onto the coffee table to grab a letter. She gets one and starts to run away. Vernon jumps up as well.

"Give me that! Give me that letter!"

He chases Ariana and grabs her before Ariana gets into her cupboard.

"Get off! There're my letters! Let go of me!"

"That's it! We're going away! Far away! Where they can't find us!"

"Daddy's gone mad, hasnt he?!"

\---

A house, on a rock island somewhere out at sea. The family is sleeping, with Ariana on the cold, dirt floor. She has drawn a birthday cake which reads, Happy Birthday Ariana. Ariana looks at Dudley's watch, which beeps 12:00.

"Make a wish, Ariana."

Suddenly, the door thumps. Ariana jumps. The door thumps again and Dudley and Ariana jump up and back away. Petunia and Vernon appear, Vernon with a gun. The door bangs again and then cracks open, and a giant man appears.

"Sorry 'bout that."

"I demand that you leave at once, Sir! You are breaking and entering!"

Hagrid comes over, grabs the gun and bends it upwards.

"Dry up, Dursley, you great prune."

The gun fires.

"Where is Ariana Dumbledore?"

"I'm here."

"Oh, well, of course you are! Got something for ya. 'Fraid I might have sat on it at some point! I imagine that it'll taste fine just the same. Ahh. Baked it myself. Words and all. Heh."

He hands Ariana a box with a cake inside that reads Happee Birthdae Ariana.

"Thank you."

"It's not every day that a young girl turns eleven, now is it?"

Hagrid sits down on the couch, takes out an umbrella and points it at the empty fire. Poof, poof! Two sparks fly out and the fire starts. The family gapes.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Rubeus Hagrid. Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Course, you'll know all about Hogwarts."

"Sorry, no."

"No? Blimey, Ariana, didn't you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?"

"Learned what?"

"You're a witch, Ariana."

"I'm a what?"

"A witch. And a thumping good one at that, I'd wager. Once you train up a little."

"No, you've made a mistake. I can't be a witch. I mean, I'm just Ariana. Just Ariana."

"Well, Just Ariana, did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared?"

Hagrid hands Ariana the same letter that has been sent the past while. Ariana opens it.

"Dear Miss Dumbledore, We are pleased to inform you that you've been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"She'll not be going! We swore when we took her in we'd put an end to this rubbish!"

"You knew? You knew all along and you never told me?"

"Of course we knew. How could you not be? My perfect sister being who she was. Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. We have a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful? I was the only one to see her for what she was. A freak! And then she met that Dumbledore, and then she had you, and I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as ... abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up! And we got landed with you."

"Blown up? You told me my parents died in a car crash!"

"A car crash? A car crash kill Aurelius and Lily Dumbledore?"

"We had to tell her something."

"It's an outrage! It's a scandal!"

"She'll not be going!"

"Oh, and I suppose a great Muggle like yourself's going to stop him, are you?"

"Muggle?"

"Non magic folk. This girl's had her name down ever since she was born! She's going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and she'll be under her great-great-grandfather and the greatest headmaster Hogwarts' has ever seen: Albus Dumbledore.

Ariana's eyes widen. Wait a minute, great-great-grandfather? She thinks to herself.

"I will not pay for some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks!"

Hagrid whips out his umbrella and points it at Vernon.

"Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me."

Hagrid sees Dudley eating Ariana's cake, and points the umbrella at his rear. A grey tail grows.

"Ahh!"

The family takes Dudley upstairs.

Ariana laughs.

"Oh, um, I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone at Hogwarts about that. Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do magic."

Ariana nods.

"Okay."

Hagrid checks his watch.

"Ooh, we're a bit behind schedule. Best be off. Unless you'd rather stay, of course. Hmm?"


	3. Diagon Alley

"All students must be equipped with... one standard size two pewter cauldron and may bring if they desire either an owl, a cat or a toad. Hagrid, can we really find all of this in London?"

"If you know where to go."

They go to a corner store and enter, The Leaky Cauldron.

"Ah, Hagrid! The usual, I presume?"

"No thanks, Tom. I'm on official Hogwarts business today. Just helping young Ariana here buy her school supplies."

"Bless my soul. It's Ariana Dumbledore."

The pub goes silent. A man comes up and shakes Ariana's hand.

"Welcome back, Ms. Dumbledore, welcome back."

A witch comes up and shakes Ariana's hand, as well.

"Doris Crockford, Ms. Dumbledore. I can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

A man in robes with a turban on his head appears. It is Professor Quirrell.

"Ariana D-dumbledore. C-can't tell you how pleased I am to meet you."

"Hello, Professor. I didn't see you there. Ariana, this is Professor Quirrell. He'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts."

"Oh, nice to meet you."

Ariana puts out her hand. Quirrell refuses.

"F-fearfully fascinating subject. N-not that you need it, e-eh, Dumbledore? Heheh."

"Yes, well, must be going now. Lots to buy. Heh."

"Good-bye, Professor."

The two leave into a back room winery in front of a brick wall.

"See, Ariana, you're famous!"

"But why am I famous, Hagrid? All those people back there, how is that they know who I am?"

"I'm not exactly sure I'm the right person to tell you that, Ariana."

Hagrid taps the brick wall clockwise with his umbrella. The blocks shift and open up to reveal a hidden, busy street.

"Welcome, Ariana, to Diagon Alley."

Ariana grins broadly as they step into the street and walk down it.

"Here's where you'll get your quills and ink, and over there all your bits and bobs for doing your wizardry."

Ariana is amazed as they pass by shops.

"Hagrid, how am I going to pay for any of this? I haven't any money."

"Well there's your money, Ariana. Gringotts, the Wizard Bank. T'aint no place safer, 'cept perhaps Hogwarts."

Inside the bank, they walk down the shiny aisle, passing tiny creatures working.

"Uh, Hagrid, what exactly are those things?"

"They're goblins, Ariana. Clever as they come goblins but not the most friendly of beasts. Best stick close to me."

Hagrid clears his throat as they approach a counter with a goblin in it.

"Ms. Ariana Dumbledore wishes to make a withdrawal."

The goblin looks up.

"And does Ms. Ariana Dumbledore have her key?"

"Oh. Wait a minute. Got it here somewhere. Hah. Here's the little devil. Oh, and there's something else as well. Professor Dumbledore gave me this. It's about you-know-what in vault you-know-which."

He hands the Goblin a letter wrapped in string.

"Very well."

\---

Ariana and Hagrid race down the depth caverns in a cartlike structure. The cart stops, a goblin, Griphook, clambers out.

"Vault 687. Lamp, please."

Hagrid hands him the lamp and he walks to the vault.

"Key please."

Hagrid hands him the key and he unlocks it.

The room is filled nearly top to bottom with coins. Ariana is amazed.

"Didn't think your mum and dad would leave you with nothing, now didja?"

They continue on through the cavern.

"Vault 713."

"What's in there, Hagrid?"

"Can't tell you, Ariana. It's Hogwarts business. Very secret."

"Stand back."

Griphook slides a finger down the door. Clank. Clank. The vault opens to expose a small white stone package. Hagrid hurries in and scoops it up.

"Best not mention this to anyone, Ariana."

Ariana nods.

\---

"I still need a wand."

"A wand? Well, you'll want Ollivanders. No place better. Run along there, but wait. I just got one more thing I got to do. Won't be long."

Ariana goes into the store, quietly. She looks around. There are shelves of wands, but no people.

"Hello? Hello?"

There is a thunk. A man appears on a ladder and looks at Ariana. He smiles.

"I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Ms. Dumbledore. It seems only yesterday that your mother and father were in here buying their first wands."

He picks a wand.

"Ah. Here we are."

Ariana holds it but just stands.

"Well, give it a wave."

She waves. All the shelves come crashing down. Ariana jumps and hurriedly puts the wand back on the counter.

"Apparently not."

He gets another wand.

"Perhaps this."

Ariana waves at a vase, which blows apart.

"No, no, definitely not! No matter."

He gets a wand.

"I wonder."

He hands the wand to Ariana. Ariana glows under it.

"Curious, very curious."

"Pardon me, but what's curious?"

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Ms. Dumbledore. It just so happens that the phoenix, whose tail feather resides in your wand gave one other feather, just one. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar."

"And who owned that wand?"

"Oh, we do not speak his name. The wand chooses the wizard, Ms. Dumbledore. It's not always clear why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things... terrible, yes, but great."

There is a knock on the window.

"Ariana! Ariana! Happy birthday!"

Hagrid has a cage with a note attached that had From Professor Dumbledore written on it. Inside the cage is a phoenix.

"Wow."

\---

Hagrid and Ariana, are at a long table, eating soup.

"You all right, Ariana? You seem very quiet."

"He killed my parents, didn't he? The one who gave me my scar? You know, Hagrid. I know you do. Please, tell me. I need to know."

Hagrid sighs and pushes his bowl away.

"First, and understand this, Ariana, 'cause it's very important. Not all wizards are good. Some of them go bad. A few years ago there was one wizard who went as bad as you can go. And his name was G-...his name was G-...

"Maybe if you wrote it down?"

"No, I can't spell it. All right. His name was Gellert Grindelwald."

"Gellert Grindelwald?"

"Shh!!"

Ariana looks around.

"It was dark times, Ariana, dark times. Grindelwald started to gather some followers, brought 'em over to the dark side. Anyone that stood up to him ended up dead. Your parents fought against him, but nobody lived once he decided to kill 'em. Nobody... not one. Except you."

"Me? Grindelwald tried to kill me?"

"Yes. That ain't no ordinary cut on your forehead, Ariana. A mark like that only comes from being touched by a curse... and an evil curse at that.

"What happened to You-Know-Who?"

"Some say he died. Codswallop in my opinion. Nope, I reckon he's out there, still, too tired to go on. But one thing's absolutely certain. Something about you stumped him that night. That's why you're famous, Ariana. That's why everbody knows your name. You're the girl who lived."


End file.
